The global crisis of drug-related HIV and associated diseases requires an immediate and long-term change in my career path. It requires a major expansion in the scope of my research, and in the basic terms of my appointment at the University of Connecticut. This is the reason I am applying for an Independent Scientist (K02) Award. I developed an innovative prevention model for IDUs in the 1990s, called a Peer-Driven Intervention (PDI), which is being increasingly utilized in Vietnam, Thailand, China, and Russia - countries that lead the world in drug-related HIV rates. I describe in each of these countries several inter-related research initiatives that require my direct involvement. In order for me to continue to meet this global need and challenge, and to deliver the full potential of what the prevention model and I have to offer, I urgently need substantial release from the normal academic teaching and service obligations I face, In this application, I provide extensive documentation of the numerous international collaborations in which I am participating, and to which I have both moral and professional obligations. I explain how pursuing these inter-related research initiatives contributes to fulfilling four major career goals - goals that compliment many of the priorities set in NIH's 2004 Plan for International HIV-Related Research. These goals are: Goal 1. Pursue current and new studies to improve the PDI and other innovative models for global applications to prevent drug-related diseases. Goal 2. Provide international technical assistance, particularly in Southeast Asia and Russia, to implement peer-intervention and other prevention projects for IDUs. Goal 3. Assume a larger, international leadership role in the training and mentoring of researchers, particularly in Southeast Asia and Russia in drug research and prevention science, and in the responsible conduct of research involving human subjects. Goal 3. Disseminate the results of international research and prevention science on a global scale.